50 



In the following table the results are presented in a form convenient for com- 

 parison : 



The crops on the plots for 1891 were much heavier than those gathered in 1890 ; 

 the difference may be partly accounted for by the liberal dressing of manure which 

 the land received, but probably a greater allowar::e should be made for the charac- 

 ter of the season, which was very favourable in 1891 and very unfavourable in 1890. 

 There are some seeming contradictions in the results for 1891 which can be explained 

 and others for which at present no full and satisfactory explanation can be offered. 



The plots of Prize Cluster oats and Baxter's barley which were sown the first 

 week were at the northern end of the series, and were exposed to the full force of a 

 storm of wind, which carried much sand with it, and which swept over the part where 

 these plots were situated a few days after the grain was up. This cut the tender 

 blades almost to the ground and permanently injured the plots. The Prize Prolific 

 barley. Banner oats and the two varieties of wheat were partly sheltered by a slight 

 depression in the land, and thus escaped much injury. From the results of the tests 

 for both years it is evident that the oat crop is less influenced by delay in sowing 

 than either wheat or barley. Some of the other apparent irregularities were partly 

 due to the results of a hailstorm which passed over the farm when the grain from 

 some of these plots was standing, and a part of it was beaten out and lost. This will 

 account for the difference between the crops from the fourth and fifth sowings of the 

 Prize Cluster oats. 



Taking the retux-ns of the two years together, the average falling off from week 

 to week in the yield of the four varieties of wheat as compared with the crop from 

 the first sowing is, for the first week 27 per cent., for the second 30, third 43, fourth 

 45, and for the fifth 52 per cent. Calculating the average loss on the barley in the 

 same manner we fiiid it to be as follows: First week 13 per cent, second 26, third 

 36, fourth 51, and for the fifth 52 per cent. Leaving out of consideration the first 

 series of oat plots on account of their abnormal character in 1891 and their partial 

 character in 1890, and taking the crop from the second sowing as the basis for com- 

 parison, we find the falling off in the successive weeks to be 12 per cent, 24, 26, and 

 for the last sowing 43 per cent, showing that even with the oat crop delay in sow- 

 ing cannot be practised without loss. 



When we consider that the value of the spring wheat crop for the past year, of 

 Ontario alone, taking it at 85 cents per bushel, was 89,104,807 ; that of barley at 45 

 <5ent8 per bushel, $7,263,856; and that of oats at 30 cents per bushel, $22,502,862 — or 

 putting these three together, nearly thirty-nine millions of dollars — the percentage 



